


Why the Dwarf Bashing?

by Wynni



Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Journals, personal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-06
Updated: 2015-06-06
Packaged: 2018-04-03 04:10:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4086115
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wynni/pseuds/Wynni
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A lot of Hobbit fans don't even realize they're doing it,</p>
            </blockquote>





	Why the Dwarf Bashing?

A lot of Hobbit fans are getting on this boat, without even realizing it, I think.

"What Dwarf bashing?" you might ask. 

1\. Gold sickness. Ain't. no. such.  
In the book, it was a curse laid down by Smaug, and very much pulling from Very Old Traditions. In the Ring Cycle, the dragon Sigfried killed was a transformed Dwarf who had brooded long over a coveted cursed ring (hence the name 'Ring Cycle'...what? you thought the One Ring was the first? Hah!)

So, Crazy Thorin (and it wasn't just Thorin, so we're clear) was due to a Dragon Curse. Not a 'fatal flaw' in his genetics, not 'greed of his ancestors' or 'flaw of his race'.  
Nope.  
Just a Dragon induced curse that dissipated over time as the treasure was aired out and shared.

2, Cursed Arkenstone

seriously, the heck?  It was a large stone that showed the wealth of the mountain and the craft of the Dwarves that lived there. It was pretty much a family heirloom, and suddenly everybody wants to smash it?  Go smash Granny's fine china. It'd mean the same thing.  
Actually, I MUCH prefer Scribe of Erebor's take on the Arkenstone. Much cooler. (Do yourself a favor and visit this amazing author on Fanfiction.net, if you like your Hobbit fiction well researched and well written).

3\. The Dwarves asked for it for being Greedy.

Reeeeally? So, Elves can fight and feud over their precious Silmarils, and hug their trees, and that's all fine and dandy, but Dwarves can't be rewarded for being industrious, proud of their craft, and feel a connection to the very stones that birthed them?  The heck kind of double standard is this?  
Honestly, this is a serious case of "blame the victim". Afterall, fewer bears would die in a forest fire if they'd just all go live in zoos instead, right? 

How dare those Dwarves be prosperous, and make the Dale prosperous, and share their good fortune with the Free peoples around them (including the elves, until that whole necklace thing).  
Even Tolkien didn't do that in the Hobbit, and he compared Dwarves unfavorably to Jews. Our illustrious author might have had a bit of a racism problem there.

Which leads us to 

4\. The heck did making Thror gold crazy come from? It weren't in the book, and 

5.  Thrain's madness is understandable and not a function of genetic weakness, given what all he'd been through:  
     a. Mountain invaded by Smaug, losing kith, kin, and home in a single  
         night.  
     b. Abandoned by allies: where's all them people they were sharing the  
         wealth and trade gone? Okay, so the Dale humans were in the same  
         boat , but they weren't the only ones.    
     c, Father beheaded, and, if that ain't enough   
     d. baby boy (Frerin) killed in battle.  
Soldiers coming with PTSD had less happen to them. I'd say the Dwarf was overdue a nervous breakdown. 

edit: I've also been reminded that Thrain's mental breakdown did not happen until well after the Battle before the Gates, In fact, it didn't happen until Sauron had been tormenting him who knows how long after his capture. /edit

In my further defense of how awesome Tolkien Dwarves are, consider  Thrain.  Gandalf was worried about that nasty Dragon taking up with Mordor.  Thrain had been lost in the Necromancer's clutches with both key and map until he was able to pass it off to Gandalf. Long after he'd forgotten his own name to the horrors visited on him by Sauron and his goons, he kept the map and key safely hidden.  Surrendering the map and key would have allowed Sauron to take the mountain, and attack from two fronts with a fricking Dragon.  
Talk about an unsung hero of Arda.

and one last thing: Thorin does not have a terrible sense of direction. In the book, he was at the bottom of the dwarf pile when they all fell in Bilbo's door, and they left the Mirkwood path in an effort to not starve to death.


End file.
